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Next sessionTime: Wednesday, december 28th, 18:00 GMT+1 - 24:00 GMT+1Maptool login/password: TBDIRC Channel for OOC banter: irc.gamesurge.net:6667 #larpfagsNotes: Will the group walk away scott-free, or will figurative and literal butthurt ensue in prison!?

Introduction
A fresh new thread to collect (hopefully) all the information in our new & shiny RPGCodex pen&paper campaign. This is a continuation of the interest gauge thread located here. All non-campaign related queries (such as RPTools questions or bitching about the choice of system) should go there as well.

We're running Pathfinder which is a balance patch of 3.5E dungeons and dragons, published by Paizo. We're currently running the published adventure path called Carrion Crown from Paizos website. A low-spoiler Player Guide can be found either at their site or in the handy hyperlink to my dropbox.

We're using IRC and Maptools to handle communication, die rolls, handouts, combat and so forth. Spectators are welcome, although I ask them not to be douchebags and disturb people while we play. (That's what the OOC IRC channel is for!) I'm not 100% sure how the lags will be if 20+ people are all downloading handouts off of my computer, so we may end up kicking spectators if things get ultra-laggy.

Player reserve list
In the event of player dropout, we'll try ro recruit from this pool of people, who've already expressed interest. Top slots on the list get first pick. Interested parties can sign up as reserves, but will enter at the bottom of the list.

Character Generation
- Character generation follows the standard rules in the players guide. Those who haven't got the book handy can refer to the summary at the system reference website.
- Ability scores will be generated using point buy. Players will have 15 points to distribute.
- Races allowed are standard player races from the core book. (No travelling monster freakshow, please).
- Classes, feats, spells etc can be taken from the core book, advanced player's guide, ultimate magic and/or ultimate combat.
- We are not using hero points.
- We are using traits. (See Advanced Player's Guide or the SRD). Characters get to pick one general trait from the advanced player's guide and one campaign trait from the Carrion Crown player's guide.

Houserules
- Shared, equalized XP. The GM will inform everyone if they have reached enough to level up. (This will generally be between sessions so it doesn't soak up playtime).
- HP will be rolled for, BRO style. (No pansy max hp or rerolls here)
- player vs player conflict and arguing is allowed. But we're trying to limit it to no backstabbing. (Ultimately, everyone wants to work together)
- All non-evil alignments allowed
- we'll try to keep things LARPy. Difficulties for everything will be slightly higher, but the GM will assign bonusses liberally on the basis of the players LARP, creative ideas and the like

Right. I'm sitting in IRC now, fiddling with various details. See the first post for details.

I've copied the intro to the oneshot adventure verbatim, since it's basically a huge, noninteractive infodump.

Primer for the oneshot adventure

Ekat Kassen was a crusader and fortune seeker who came to serve Lastwall in the year 4515 ar. While he fought with distinction, he soon realized that he wanted more from life and left the Lastwall military to find his fortune elsewhere. His travels took him all over the region around Lake Encarthan, and he decided to settle down in 4522 after a very profitable adventure. Using a sizable portion of his fortune, he set out to tame a small area of the Fangwood on the banks of the Tourondel River, making it a natural stopover for those traveling up and down the river to Skelt. For the next 10 years, the town, which was then known as Kassen’s Hold, grew and prospered.

All that changed when Asar Vergas came to Kassen’s Hold with a host of mercenaries under his command. Asar was an old companion of Ekat, and the two had traveled together for some time before splitting up just after Ekat’s last adventure. Over the years, Asar became sure that Ekat had cheated him after that adventure. Promising great wealth to his mercenaries, Asar raided the town relentlessly for 2 months. Finally, the townsfolk managed to locate Asar’s camp in an ancient crypt deep in the forest, and Ekat himself went out to deal with his old companion.

The battle was terribly bloody, with only a few townsfolk coming back to tell the tale. In the end, Asar was slain and his mercenaries scattered, but Ekat suffered a mortal wound. He died 2 days later, on the 11th day of Neth, 4535. In honor of their beloved founder, the townsfolk buried Kassen in the ancient crypt, interring his bones in a place of honor, above the simple sarcophagi used to inter Asar, his mercenaries, and the townsfolk that lost their lives in the bitter struggle. They placed an eternal flame above Kassen’s final resting place, so that all who visited might find warmth in the wilderness.

Over the years, the Crypt of the Everflame has become an important part of the history of the town, now simply called Kassen. The townsfolk view the crypt as a memorial to those difficult first years of the town’s history. Every autumn, a few of the townsfolk make a pilgrimage to the crypt to light a lantern from the flame and bring it back to town, where it is preserved all winter, a symbol of the town’s resilience. Most years, the town mayor and a group of dignitaries perform this quest. Every few years, however, a handful of younger townsfolk are given the honor of lighting the lantern. Many see this as a passage into adulthood, a taste of adventure before settling down to work and marriage.

The quest starts out as a solemn ceremony in town, where the townsfolk gather to wish the adventurers luck, just as it was when Kassen himself left to fight the mercenaries. When the adventurers return a few days later, the town holds a great celebration in their honor. This also marks the final harvest celebration before the long winter.

~12112
A cat's desire to be inside or outside is a readily available macroscopic view of quantum superposition

But yeah. I was way too optimistic with my idea of shared character generation. On top of that, we had some server setup issues. A good 2-2½ hours were waste before we got going. On top of that, people were unfamiliar with the rules and toolset slowing things down further.

In total, we explored ~20% of the crypt (~35% of the entire module) before we called it a night.

~12112
A cat's desire to be inside or outside is a readily available macroscopic view of quantum superposition

Super-short version. The players set out to bring back a lantern lit from the crypt of the verflame. They travelled using a map they were given, got horribly lost in the woods and wasted valuable time. Near sunset, they got jumped by orcs. However, the orcs didn't do any damage (damn will saves!) because they turne dout to be illusions. The players searched the area and eventually reached the conclusion that the goddamn villagers had been sneaking out to spice up the adventure. They were not amused.

A few hours later, the players set up camp. The fighters on watch weren't paying good enough attention though, and a pack of hungry wolves jumped them (and nearly killed the rogue).

Patched up, the players finished resting and continued. They found a corpse by the lake, that seemed to have been killed by a bunch of snake bites. They eventually looted the man, buried the body and went on their way without investigating further. (Secret loot missed!)

It began raining by the time they reached the steep slope down tot the crypt. The adventureres decided to tie ropes together to assist them in climbing (and got a bonus to their checks). They still rolled miserably however, and many cuts and bruises were accrued when they slipped down the trecherous slope. One managed to sprain his ankle for dex damage.

Once they actually reached the crypt, they found the slaughtered remains of several horses, as well as the bones of a human crushed undernath one of them. They had some DISCUSSion going about what could've happened, failed a crucial perception check (more missed loot!) and eventually decided to force entry to the tomb itself with a crowbar.

Inside the tomb, they found a bunch of skeletons, as well as the badly mutilated unidentifiable corpses of some dead peasants. A fight (clusterfuck) ensued but eventually all skeletons were killed. A search of the remains revealed the mutilated peasants had backpacks filled with pillows and blunted arrows.

Further searching revealed a low wail coming from the eastern door. The next room was a bunch of tight corridors, with about a dozen pit traps scatterd throughout. the first time the group found one, they realized there was a stack of pillows at the bottom of the pit. Apparently the villagers weren't out to get them killed, just make stuff more exciting. (That is, before the undead showed up).

They solved the super-easy puzzle to open the locked door (we sped things along a bit here because it was getting really late).

Finally, they found the surviving peasant from the FUN PARTY, barricaded in a room. A lot of time was spent on (hilarious for the GM) PEASANT DIPLOMACY™, as he wasn't quite convinced the players weren't evil undead abominations. Eventualyl the surviver confirmed that the peasants (as per tradition) had set out to make the dungeon memorable for the citys young heroes (but not fatal). Had been jumped by undead, including "The one who talks!". Of the 6 villagers, one was clearly mad, 4 were kille dand one (the surviving villagers sister) dragged away to an uncertain fate by the undead.

At this point, we were almost an hour past the official end time, with most of the ungeon level (and an entire second level) left unexplored. WE decided to call it a night and start the "real" campaign proper next time.

Things we didn't get to experience (but were totally in the adventure and set up by yours truly):

- a beautiful young peasant maiden, who would probably have gotten horribly killed before the players reached her!

Click to expand...

The drunken dwarf would have gone out of his way for a daring rescue only to collect his 'pay' shortly thereafter (yeah, you can guess here what the pay would be. Special hint: it incorporates 'tasteful' ).

One thing I don't like about playing on map tools is that combat seems to take an eternity to resolve, specially when not everyone is familiar with the rules.

Click to expand...

That doesn't have anything to do with maptools so much as with everyone being unfamiliar with how combat works, wha ttheir bonusses are etc.

I'll look into setting up some macros so people can press a button labeled "AWESOME!" to calculate the attack for them. there is a fairly elaborate macro system in maptools. I used on for D&D 4E which was really awesome. Sadly, the pathfinder equivalent framework is bloated as fuck :/

WetWorks said:

Ulminati said:

They eventually looted the man, buried the body and went on their way

Click to expand...

They buried a body? What are they? A party of paladins?

Click to expand...

Blame the psychotic cleric bitch, who thought it was unreasonable to behead the dead man for luck and leave him where they found him.

~12112
A cat's desire to be inside or outside is a readily available macroscopic view of quantum superposition

I'm a pretty big fan of item bond myself tbh. The spontaneous spell slot can be really, really handy if you have a lot of utility spells and don't know what to expect. And since you can enhance your item bond as if you had the prerequisite crafting feat, I usually go for a ring so I can get a ring of sustenance or ring of protection without splurging moneys on Forge Ring.

~12112
A cat's desire to be inside or outside is a readily available macroscopic view of quantum superposition